Bhubaneswar, 06 June (H.S.) : Odisha Vigilance on Saturday arrested a lineman of Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL) for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹15,000 from a farmer in connection with the replacement of a damaged electricity pole in Cuttack district.

The accused, identified as Dharma Niranjan Chaudhury, Line Man-A of the Narsinghpur Electrical Section under TPCODL, was apprehended during a vigilance trap operation while allegedly accepting the bribe amount from the complainant.

According to Vigilance officials, an 11 KV power line passed through the farmer’s agricultural land, where an electricity pole had become damaged and posed a potential safety risk. Concerned about the possibility of an accident, the farmer approached the local electricity office seeking replacement of the damaged pole.

Officials said Chaudhury was assigned to carry out the replacement work and allegedly demanded ₹25,000 from the farmer for the service. The damaged pole was reportedly replaced on June 2, following which the accused allegedly received ₹8,000 through a UPI transaction. He later demanded the remaining amount and allegedly refused to remove the old pole from the farmer’s land until the balance payment was made.

When the farmer expressed his inability to pay the remaining ₹17,000, the accused allegedly agreed to accept ₹15,000 after negotiations.

Following the complaint lodged by the farmer, Odisha Vigilance officials laid a trap and caught the accused while allegedly receiving the negotiated bribe amount. The entire tainted cash of ₹15,000 was recovered from his possession and seized as evidence.

Subsequently, Vigilance officials launched searches at a property linked to the accused to investigate possible disproportionate assets. Further investigation into the case is underway.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda